Served with tomato sauce and a side of napa cabbage The current selection of our Cook the Books Club is Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship by Isabel Vincent, a delightful memoir about the friendship between the author and an elderly...

The salad looks nice in a Limoges tureen (zuppiera)1 (tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO) During winter months, usually soup is on the table more often than salad. This year, however, I am having an intense relationship with raw cabbage. It's not that I...

Flavors from around the world Federico García Lorca1 is one of my favorite poets, so when I came across a novel whose protagonist's name was Lorca, I had to read it: I am glad I followed my impulse. Jessica Soffer's Tomorrow There Will Be Apricots2 is the...

Garden flavors (tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO) Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather start a catering company in Dublin, Ireland, and in so doing bring together the large cast of characters in Maeve Binchy's novel Scarlet Feather, the current selection of...

Onion and ricotta tart in good company (tablecloth by La FABBRICA del LINO) In her memoir Unearthed: Love, Acceptance, and Other Lessons from an Abandoned Garden,1 author Alexandra Risen2 tells two stories of discovery: one pertains the garden around the...

A simple, flavorful side dish (placemat by La FABBRICA del LINO) The current selection of our Cook the Books Club is The Unprejudiced Palate: Classic Thoughts on Food and the Good Life by Angelo Pellegrini1 (1948). At the beginning, the author declares...

Strascnat (orecchiette) with crescenza cheese Orecchiette literally means “small ears” (orecchie means ears in Italian). To make them, small pieces of dough are drawn across the wooden board with a blunt-tipped knife, or are stretched and turned inside...

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] initial phase (i.e., before kneading the dough) Recipes for handmade pasta usually instruct you to make a well in the flour and put the liquid (water or eggs) in it, then use a fork or your fingers...

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a little bitter and a little sweet A short motoscafo1 ride from the Fondamente Nove of Venezia brings you to the island of Murano. Most visitors go there for a day visit. We stayed there during our...

Dubai's Best Italian Chefs Perhaps the most exciting event in this year's Italian Cuisine World Summit, is the November 1st event! Because for the first time ever over 170 chefs team up and gather in one venue to cook up a storm and serve Dubai the most...

Hello! I'm so sorry about the very long delay between posts! Thanks to everyone who has messaged me privately to see what I've been up to - it's very much appreciated! I'm back and promise regular updates (: I have for you today a guest post from Emily...

Pasta for dessert Author Patricia V. Davis is writing a trilogy set on the Queen Mary1, the retired ocean liner moored in the harbor of Long Beach, CA. In anticipation of the first book of The Secret Spice Cafe Trilogy2, titled Cooking for Ghosts and Lost...

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] fagiolina comes in two varieties: white and "rainbow" (the beautiful bicolor linen tablecloth is from La FABBRICA del LINO) When I visit Perugia, the city in central Italy where I was born and grew...

A simply good soup (linen napkin from La FABBRICA del LINO) Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer1 is the protagonist of Cheap Novelties, The Pleasures of Urban Decay2 by Ben Katchor. The collection of black and white strips reads like a collection of...

Spindle-shaped, delicate cecamariti (literally, husband blinders) No husband was hurt in the making of this pasta. Blinding here is used in the sense of dazzling. Cecare is a dialectal form of the verb accecare. Mariti is the plural of marito, husband....

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] a flavorful flower (place mat from La FABBRICA del LINO) Cara Cara oranges from the farmers' market and an invitation to a potluck inspired this crostata. The success led to encores. Citrus season...

La pastasciutta con quello che c'è The poem by George Bradley La past'asciutta con quello che c'è is included in the anthology Sustenance and Desire: A Food Lover's Anthology of Sensuality and Humor by Bascove, which is the current selection of our Cook...

[cliccare il link per andare alla versione in italiano] it's sweet — once you go past its fierce look Every region of Italy has specific Holiday food traditions. Torciglione is a sweet treat from Umbria, the region in central Italy where I was born and...

Sunbathing in the morning on linen (from La FABBRICA del LINO) A recent morning at the beginning of a pasta making session, the gnocchi board on my table gently tugged at my sleeve to remind me of its presence. I picked it up and put it in front of me on...